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The spirit of giving and caring has shown itself throughout the Hazelwood School District.

Schools from across the District have taken the time to serve others during the holiday season. From canned food drives to collecting toys to adopting families to making blankets for infants, students are dedicated to helping make a difference in the community.

At Grannemann Elementary, the Student Council held a ‘Baskets of Kindness’ campaign. Each class brought in different items such as socks, mittens, personal care items and snacks. After two weeks, they collected enough donations to fill six large baskets to give to the Hazelwood Community Response Team for needy families.

Jury Elementary held a canned food drive for Operation Food Search, a food bank that distributes food free of charge to 30 counties surrounding the City of St. Louis in both Illinois and Missouri. The school collected 4,328 pounds of food.

Students at each of the ACE locations in the District participated in adopt-a-family programs through St. Louis County Children’s Division. A total of four families were adopted between the three locations.

Youngsters of the Hazelwood Early Childhood centers collected coats, winter hats and gloves and bath linens for children in Kosovo.

Troops serving in Iraq were remembered by sixth graders at Hazelwood West Middle School with cards and letters. Students also sent personal care items, games and basic necessities to two military units. A total of 23 boxes were sent and the Parent Teacher Student Association donated the money for shipping.

The Key Club of Hazelwood East High School donated food items and $700 to help six families in need in the District. One family is presently homeless, others are fire victims and one is a grandparent raising four grandchildren alone.

Hazelwood West High School’s Student Council adopted a District family. Two of the children in the family attend a nearby elementary.

Third grade classes at Armstrong Elementary set a goal of collecting 1,000 nickels in each of the four classes to buy gifts to donate to Toys for Tots.

In their first food drive, Barrington Elementary students collected more than 2,300 food items in only five days. The food was donated to a local church to make food baskets for families in need. The Student Council also undertook a successful Toys for Tots campaign.

Baby blankets and scarves were given to St. Luke’s Pediatric Clinic from a student organization at Hazelwood West High School. FCCLA, Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, made 15 blankets and more than 30 scarves.

Residents of a family shelter in Bridgeton were the focus of the Room at the Inn Project at Hazelwood West High. For the second year, the school as a whole participated in collecting items that families requested to help them transition to and from the shelter. Items collected ranged from personal care to clothing to toys. The shelter houses women and their children and the items were packaged in large plastic containers and delivered to the shelter by the students and the program organizer. The shelter also benefited in that items were collected to help the shelter run its operation, such as toilet paper, soap, and mops and buckets.

The Hazelwood Community Response Team (CRT) collected household and personal care items for District families in need. The CRT is a multi-disciplinary team of community members and District employees that work together to assist students and families in accessing resources within the community to help meet various physical, mental health, vocational, housing and educational needs.

Students at Keeven Elementary held a ‘Chores for Change’ project with the goal of raising $300 for doing chores at home and donating the money to the efforts of Hazelwood CRT. The school raised $612, surpassing their goal.

Service learning is a significant part of the District’s curriculum and students give their efforts to the community throughout the year.

(this story provided by Hazelwood District Communications Dept.)
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